Introduce Yourself to The Community

Let us know a little about yourself and your lawn care and landscaping business. Let us know who you are, where you are from, and what equipment you started with and how far you have come along in the business.

Thread: High Schooler from Southern California

I'm in high school but I love the lawn care industry. I love the idea of owning your own business as much as making lawns greener and thicker than anyone else's. This year is my first opportunity to get into lawn care service, otherwise I would have been doing thisfor much longer. I have started with nothing, and have gotten some luck doing stump removals (manually, of course) around the neighborhood to pay for some good equipment. I want to learn as many things as I can, such as fertilizing, aeration, dethatching, irrigation, etc., and this site has a plethora of information. I have some guys service lawns in my neighborhood and noticed how they have taken advantage of some of my neighobors (a guy across the street has been mowing bermuda that's been dormant since December, it hasn't grown an inch). I want to take those guys out of business and not become another poor example of the industry like them.

First off, I do think its neat that you have such a desire to work hard. When I was in high school, (I graduated 7 years ago so I'm still pretty young) I had NO desire to do manual labor like this. I had always (since I was young) wanted to be a CHP officer. Well, I didn't make it into the CHP, but I did get into Law Enforcement; However after 3 years, I have decided that its not quite what I had anticipated.

I'm telling you that to tell you this: Things aren't always what you anticipate. There are a LOT of hidden details about everything! You are young so make sure this is FOR SURE what you want to do. AND IF IT IS, go to school. Others on here may not agree with me, but thats fine, they dont have to. If you are absolutely sure this is what you want to do, then at least get an AA in Horticulture or something similar. It will give you some knowledge that can prove useful, and it will give you the ability to work for someone like ACRT if your business goes belly up. Its a good backup plan. Just think about it. Words of wisdom from a young old man who has been through more than you could know, and more than most people go through at my age.

i say go for it, but i would keep it part time and further my education... whether it be a degree in business management or hort degree, or whatever else your good at. something that can help you somehow down the road. its good to have a fallback. if i could only go back 20 years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlc1994

I'm in high school but I love the lawn care industry. I love the idea of owning your own business as much as making lawns greener and thicker than anyone else's. This year is my first opportunity to get into lawn care service, otherwise I would have been doing thisfor much longer. I have started with nothing, and have gotten some luck doing stump removals (manually, of course) around the neighborhood to pay for some good equipment. I want to learn as many things as I can, such as fertilizing, aeration, dethatching, irrigation, etc., and this site has a plethora of information. I have some guys service lawns in my neighborhood and noticed how they have taken advantage of some of my neighobors (a guy across the street has been mowing bermuda that's been dormant since December, it hasn't grown an inch). I want to take those guys out of business and not become another poor example of the industry like them.

Now is the absolute best time for you to start your business and get your feet wet in this industry. Now you probably have very little payments to make (probably a phone, and maybe gas for a car) so you have a lot of room to grow your business with the money you make from it. And you have the choice to keep it as small or as large as you want. Staying part time to get education is an excellent idea.

I graduated high school about a year and a half ago and went to college and hated my course. So I kept going in this industry and I'm in college for landscape design now to further my knowledge. People appreciate your hard work and plentiful knowledge on the green industry after going to school.

So work hard and do what you love, you seem to have an honest hearted work ethic, and people will appreciate that! One more thing, Lawnsite is full of stupid people, but there are alot more people who are helpful, so ask questions and don't let people get you down. We're all here to learn, check out some succcesful companies like Earth Turf and Wood, and Pro-Turf, and learn from them. You'll get an idea pretty quick of what works and what doesn't.

The owners of those succesful, larger companies all agree on one thing: You never stop learning in this industry. Whether it be from your own mistakes or from others!